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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

African leaders called this week for rich countries to commit record contributions to new financing, amid rising extreme weather events on the continent.

The proposed low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations will help African nations fund their development and combat climate change.

Donors will make cash pledges to the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank institution that offers long-term loans with low interest rates, at a conference to be held in Japan in December.

Also on my radar today:

• Binance’s CEO Zhao faces sentencing over money laundering violations
• Fashion group Hermes vows to ‘vigorously defend itself’ against Birkin lawsuit
• US reforms environmental law to speed up clean energy, infrastructure approval

Kenyan President William Ruto speaks at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at his office in Tokyo, Japan. Shuji Kajiyama/Pool via REUTERS

If the donors pledge the minimum amount suggested by African leaders, it will be a new high after the last round of fundraising in 2021, which raked in $93 billion.

IDA lending operates on a three-year cycle, which is usually preceded by donors making their contributions at a global meeting.

“We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions… to at least $120 billion,” Kenya’s President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank.

African countries were facing a “deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet’s survival,” Ruto said.

Ruto cited Kenya’s own devastating floods and a severe drought affecting Southern African nations such as Malawi. 

At least 169 people have died across Kenya from heavy rains and flooding since last month. More than 185,000 have fled their homes, government data shows.

At least 46 people were killed on Monday in a mudslide and flash floods in Mai Mahiu town in central Kenya, as the death toll rose, with survivors describing an onslaught of water that carried away houses, cars and railway tracks. 

“When I opened the door, the water gushed in and made its way through the kitchen,” said resident Anne Gachie.

“My husband managed to quickly maneuver and get out. My daughters who were in the next room were swept out of the house by the force of the water.”

Rescuers were searching on Tuesday for at least 91 people missing across Kenya, the interior ministry said. The Kenya Red Cross said it had taken several people to a health facility in Mai Mahiu due to the flooding.

Dozens more people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by intense downpours in Tanzania and Burundi, with scientists saying climate change is causing more intense and frequent extreme weather events.

The death toll from the rains in Tanzania has reached 155, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told parliament. Hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes in Burundi.

Majaliwa told Parliament that the El Nino climate pattern has worsened the ongoing rainy season, causing flooding and destroying roads, bridges and railways.

East Africa was hit by record floods during the last rainy season in late 2023.

Plastic waste and other pieces of litter are blown against a fence on a windy day in Hanover Park on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. REUTERS/Esa Alexander 

Emilio Tenuta, chief sustainability officer at global water and food safety firm, Ecolab, shares his thoughts on growing concern about water scarcity:

“Too often, water is the overlooked piece of the climate puzzle. By 2030, the world will face a 56% water deficit.

“What’s more, climate impacts are often experienced through water through droughts, wildfires, floods and extreme weather. 

“Addressing the water crisis helps us adapt to climate change and could create cross-generational engagement to build a resilient future. 

“Climate and water are linked. Through better water management, we can reduce water use and reduce emissions. This is an opportunity to address both issues with broad generational support.”

India expects power generation to grow 9.3% to 1,900 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) during the fiscal year through March 2025, internal projections by the federal power ministry reviewed by Reuters show, the fastest pace of growth since at least 2011/12.

Searing heatwaves and an uptick in economic activity have resulted in India’s electricity generation growing at an average of about 8% annually following the pandemic year of 2020/21, outpacing power demand growth in every major global economy.

A white-eye bird perches on a branch of early-flowering Ookanzakura cherry blossoms in full bloom at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Flowering plants – from corn, wheat, rice and potatoes to maple, oak, apple and cherry trees as well as roses, tulips, daisies and dandelions and even the corpse flower and voodoo lily – are cornerstones of Earth’s ecosystems and essential for humankind.

New research based on genome data for 9,506 species, as well as an examination of 200 fossils, provides the deepest understanding to date of the evolutionary history of flowering plants, called angiosperms – the largest and most diverse plant group. It details how angiosperms appeared and became dominant during the age of dinosaurs and how they have changed over time.

The scientists devised a new tree of life for angiosperms, covering 15 times more types of flowering plants – nearly 60% of them – than the nearest comparable study.

“It is a massive leap forward in our understanding of plant evolution,” said botanist William Baker of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) in London, senior author of the research published in the journal Nature.

Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Alexander Smith 

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